To shake the foundations
by Notafanofhills
Summary: Lofty isn't the only one suffering from the consequences of their actions.
1. Chapter 1

The concept of friendship wasn't alien to Dylan. It was the give and take of trust and that sense of connection which hindered his social the back of Dylans mind as Lofty locked gazes with him, there he could feel a bond that terrified him.

Ben's pain was Dylans guilt as he realised the part he played in it all. He leant back in his chair as the days events washed over, no drowned him in guilt and horror. He knew Ben looked up to him for some strange reason and ad acted upon this. Boxing his emotions up, he had spent the aftermath of that terrible event trying unsuccessfully be the rock for his friend who'd helped him in more ways than one. In return Dylan had cajoled him into a role that had tested Ben to his mental limits and ended in Diane's death.

How many times had Lofty looked tired after a shift or even when he asked, no, told Dylan he couldn't do it-

" Dylan? Do you want to take a break" a soft voice murmured behind him

"On call rooms free, I can send Zoe in for a bit"

Dylan snapped up from curling further into himself, heart hammering in his chest.

"Urm no, I'm fine – thank you" he added as an afterthought as he ran faintly trembling fingers through his hair, recoiling from Ritas gentle sympathy.

Rita's eyes bored into his skull as she read into every one of his lies.

"Dylan, we're standing behind Lofty and we're standing behind you too, he made a mistake but it was an accident" she stressed 'stop blaming yourself".

There it was; sympathy he didn't deserve.

Dylan did the only thing he knew how to do and walked away.

He missed the slight shake of Ritas head as she and Zoe shared a concerned look.


	2. Chapter 2

"It wasn't your fault" Zoe reminded him for the third time this week. "The sooner you realise this the sooner you'll be the grump we all love and know and stop sulking" . Zoe's teasing was a terrible cover up for her underlying concern and Dylan wished he could put her mind at rest but they both knew it would be a while before that happened.

" The more you say those words, the more I'll sulk" which Zoe chose to read as " I need help but I'm too stubborn to ask for it and I never know what to do with concern because I've never had it before."

Zoe raised an eyebrow and simply waited for her friend to look up from the computer screen,.

He rolled his eyes at her stubbornness. Both waited in silence, not wanting to be the first to break their resolve.

"I just don't understand why he had to leave" Dylan burst out loudly, making a passing nurse jump " He has a career here he has friends here and he had an accident but he's thrown it all in"

"He's thrown you in you mean" Zoe surmised, not unkindly as she perched in the table beside him " You can ring him you know, he doesn't stop being a friend just because he doesn't work here anymore and you know you'll always have me."

" It's nothing to do with that and why do people always say you'll always have me, it's a bit vague really" He shot back, also not unkindly "are you finished? I'm getting déjà vu"

Zoe stared at him for a minute and he could see all the things she wanted to say brimming to the surface until she settled on one.

"Dylan, I'm worried about you, there's something more to this and I don't want you feel like you can't tell me things like before" She murmured softly " You're my best friend and I can tell something isn't right"

He lowered his gaze as the gravity of those heartfelt words, settled undeservedly upon him . They sat in silence until Zoes pager bleeped.

" I have to go now I'm being paged but we aren't finished" she quipped " I'm coming round tonight to catch up with Dervla, it's been a while."

"She does miss the way you snuck her your mushrooms under the table like a four year old child"

Zoe responses was a sharp laugh as she walked out the door, leaving Dylan alone with his thoughts.

Zoe was right, something wasn't right with Dr Keogh because when Lofty walked out that door, he had taken with him Dylans confidence as a doctor.

After his very public breakdown, the thought of going into work terrified him, and it did terrify him for a few days when he returned. Gazes and murmurs followed him through his shifts, he felt like the ED was his downfall and now he had to walk through skeletons of his defeat everyday. That is until Lofty started working with him, acting as a buffer to the horrors of his past and the horrors of his future.

Now it was just him again, fighting a lone battle that Zoe really didn't need to be part of.

His thoughts were interrupted as the phone rang.


	3. Chapter 3

" Jacob, Jacob Masters?" Dylan repeated loudly, hoping Connie would take the bait. A little voice in his head prayed frantically for Connie to take this shout.

His response wasn't Connie rushing to the phone to take the call, argument perhaps?, but the slam of her office door.

Dylan felt his heart clench, this was going to end badly.

"Cal? are you free for a callout?" He shot at the doctor storming past him in apparent frustration. Maybe not then. He wheeled around and found no other doctors to hand and he certainly wasn't going to asked Zoe. He inwardly sighed. Now or never he thought miserably.

He barged into Connies office as she shot up in surprise, quickly removing any signs of emotion from her face.

"I'm off to attend an entrapment" He stated and twitched slightly before continuing "Your boyfriends there if you want to have it out with him"

This was apparently the wrong thing to say as Connie's impassivity dissolved into ice, her eyes slowly narrowing. There was a palpable tension in the silence.

"You're more than capable of doing that yourself as you keep reminding me Dr Keogh, why not start today" she said silkily, each word annunciated dangerously.

' Right, well I'll be off then" He muttered, somewhat chastised as he swivelled and fled out of her office.

Better now than never.


	4. Chapter 4

"What's taking the doc so long" Jacob joked, trying to ease the suffering mans thoughts, he succeeded in raising a smile.

"My pumpkin escaped before I could transform it" came the sharp retort, echoing in the crumbling ruins.

Jacob rolled his eyes.

" Ah. Dr Keogh. What a pleasure" he shot back somewhat fondly? Probably exasperated.

"What do we have?"

"This is Jimmy Cauler, 42, severe trauma to the upper right arm, trapped under a heavy beam for approx. 50 minutes now, GCS was 12 now 15, pulse is 100/60"

"Right" Dylan knelt down, trying desperately to ignore the increasing beat of his own heart.

"Hello Jimmy, I'm Dr Keogh, your emergency doctor for tody and we will most likely get you out in a bit. Let's titrate 5 of morphine, draw out some ketamine and go from there".

"What ya thinking?" Iain piped up.

"That left arm isn't going to be much use to him now if we can't move this, the blood loss will be fatal and this building sounds like it's going to kill us in a couple of minutes. So, if we all agreed we need to amputate. Dylan reeled off. The nods and lack of argument from his colleagues was somewhat warming,. Snapping gloves on and avoiding the doubts swirling in the back of his mind, failure wasn't an option.

Dylan shut down and became Dr Keogh.


	5. Chapter 5

A tense silence fell upon the three men as each carried their respective tasks. All were keenly aware that every crumbling brick held their lives in fragile careless abandon. As Dylan wrapped the wound from the amputation the gravity of what he had achieved hit him in full force. The pride at how far he had come mixed with relief. He slipped his helmet back to run a hand through hair, the fact it was all over was reward enough for Dylans' bravery.

"Nice work, lets get going" Iain grinned "Lets get him on a board, 1,2,3"

As everyone began to file out with the patient, he and Jacob began to put equipment back into the medical bag.

"Smooth work there Dr Keogh" Jacob smirked, illiciting a slight smile from the stoic man.

Jacob grinned back, when he met the doctor, he wasn't a fan but there was something about his anti- charm, his morality and the way he recovered after he lost everything except his dog.

"Good day for it all" he ventured trying to gain a reaction, Dylan made a non committal response whilst picking up the packed bag which Jacob interpreted as sarcastically agreeing.

"Bit of a freak accident really" Jacob added.

The change was instantaneous.

Dylan froze, his fingertips trembled as the bag fell open, spilling out it's contents. He stared blankly ahead, his terrified gaze trapped in memories.

Jacob cursed inwardly, trying not to startle the shaking doctor, they didn't have much time.

"Dylan, are you-"

The floor crumbled beneath them, sending them plummeting into the unknown.


	6. Chapter 6

A searing pain at the back of Dylan's head was the first thing he became aware of. The second was settled dust encasing his skin and throat. He coughed inadvertedly, his eyes forcing open in the process. The world tilted suddenly around him , sickeningly dark – concussion probably his sluggish voice of reason sifting through his panic, as he groaned in pain.

"Best stay still" he decided somehow, trying to focus on the debris around to ground himself.

"Dylan, can you hear me?" the booming voice of a medical professional, laced with worry, pierced through his strange consciousness.

"Dylan!" and then a groan of pained frustration.

"Jacob" Dylan tried to reassure the man he was in fact conscious, alas dust prevails he thought grimly. Jacob must have been in the same incident, although the events of the incident remained unclear, nevertheless the man sounded in pain so concussion or not Dylan had to help.

The doctor in him managed to roll Dylan over painfully and slowly onto his side. As he slowly made his way onto all fours, thankful the rest of him wasn't too damaged, he could feel rubble beneath his hands and sand between his nails. The event tentatively formed, the amputation, the ceiling must have fallen through and had taken out most natural lights. Adrenaline overtaking his probable head injury he felt his way out of the alcove of beams he had fallen into. He found himself in a patch of light which unfortunately sand was pouring through. His attention was directed away from the impending doom to another groan sounding to his left.

He could make out Jacob trying to pull his leg out from several beams. Dylan rushed over to him as fast as the pain in his head would let him.

" Don't move until I can see what's happening down there, " Dylan ordered. "What are you thinking Jacob, you're meant to be intelligent"

"What are you thinking?! You've been out for a while now and you've got a nasty head laceration – bet you that's going to be stitched later" Jacob fired back "Dylan, let me see it".

" I said it first" Dylan countered grumpily, inspecting Jacobs entrapment. It was a complex one definitely . The beams had interlocked, leaving Jacobs leg in the intersection, in other words impossible to move without risking both the man in question and the building they were residing in.

He gently palpitated Jacobs ankle noticing swelling, possible breakage, however there was certainly bloodflow,

" Well, youre not going to need me to saw it off but you aren't getting out of here without a stretcher" He grimaced, was it normal for your head to have a heartbeat?

"You know that sand will probably bury us if we don't get out" Jaccob murmured.

For a moment both men acknowledged they were very much trapped.


End file.
